Improvement in presses



WILLIAM H. RAGAN.

Improvement in Presses.

N0. 123,125, I Patentedlan.30,1872.

-b0dying my invention.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

WILLIAM H. RAGAN, OF FILLMORE, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,125, dated January 30, 1872.

SPECIFICATION.

I, WILLIAM H. RAGAN, of Fillmore, in the county of Putnam, in the State of Indiana, have invented certain Improvements in Presses for Pressing Cheese, Apples, and other similar articles, of which the following is a specification:

N atare and Objects of the Invention.

My present invention relates to improvements in the press for which Letters Patent, dated June 4, 1867 and numbered 65,431, were granted to myself and N. R. Jones as my assignees. The first part of my invention consists in the mode of constructing the framework of the press, the object being to make it of lighter timbers than heretofore, but at the same time in such a manner as to effectually resist the strain upon it, the lighter timbers lessening its cost, and rendering it more easily and cheaply transportable. The second part of my invention consists in the construction and arrangement of the mechanism. for operating the presser-screw, the object being to provide a means by which the latter may be more speedily raised and lowered when desired, while at the same time the poweris applied in equally as effective a manner as in the press de scribed in the above-mentioned Letters Patent.

Description of the Accompanying Drawing.

Figure l is a front elevation of a press cm- Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line a a, Fig. 1..

The frame-work is composed of the horizontal base or sill-timbers A, the vertical timbers B, and the horizontal ties G U 0, all framed together, as clearly shownin the drawing. The vertical timbers are notched and bolted at the bottom to the horizontal timbers A. The horizontal ties or timbers 0 rest on the top of the base or sill timbers A, and are let into gains in the vertical timbers B and bolted thereto. The horizontal ties G are gained into the vertical timbers B near the top, and are boltedtogether as shown. The horizontal timber 0 serves as a place in which to fix the bearings for both the press-screw D and vertical shaft. It will be seen that while the frame-work of the press, constructed in the manner shown, is such that comparatively light timbers may be employed, at the same time great strength and resistance to strain are secured. In stead of operating the press-screw D by means of the elongated pinion-gearing with the spur-wheel on the screw, as shown in the Letters Patent above referred to, I make a groove in the vertical shaft n, and employ a shorter pinion, 19, arranged to slide freely on the shaft a and so constructed that it will follow the spur-wheel p, on the presser-screw as the latter descends in the act of pressing. The pinion p hasakey projecting into the groove in the shaft n to prevent it from turning. The advantage of this mode of arranging the pinion 12 to operate the presserscrew is, that it is cheaper to construct, and it operates with less friction, the pinion descending with the spur-wheel p more freely than the spur-wheel will descend along the elongated pinion. A more important advantage, however, is in the facility with which the pinion may be raised and disengaged from the spurwheel, thus allowing the prcsser-screw to be moved up or down by hand more rapidly, so as to adjust it to any required height, than when it has to be operated entirely by the crank and gearing, as in my first invention. I also arrange the bevel-gearing n n below the timber G, which, as will be readily seen, allows the screw to descend further, and thus economizes in the height of the press andlength of presser-screw.

Ola'im.

I claim as my invention- The movable pinion p on the vertical-grooved shaft n combined with the spur-wheel p on the presser-screw, arranged substantially as O. F. MAHEW, JAMES DE Sumo. 

